Dietary Supplementation with Compound Probiotics and Berberine Alters Piglet Production Performance and Fecal Microbiota

• Published in: Animals (Basel) 2020-03, Vol.10 (3), p.511
• Main Authors: Xu, Xiaoxiang, Yang, Canyu, Chang, Juan, Wang, Ping, Yin, Qingqiang, Liu, Chaoqi, Gao, Tianzeng, Dang, Xiaowei, Lu, Fushan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alkaline phosphatase; Animal young; Animals; Antibiotics; Bacteria; Berberine; compound probiotics; Correlation analysis; Deoxyribonucleic acid; Diarrhea; Diet; Digestibility; DNA; Experiments; fecal microbiota; Fecal microflora; Feces; Feed conversion; Feeds; Food and nutrition; Health aspects; Hogs; Immunoglobulin G; Immunoglobulins; Intestinal microflora; Laboratories; Microbiota; Microbiota (Symbiotic organisms); Mortality; Opportunist infection; Physiological aspects; piglets; Probiotics; production performance; Relative abundance; Swine; Taxonomy; Urea; Weaning; Zinc oxide
• ISSN: 2076-2615; 2076-2615
• DOI: 10.3390/ani10030511

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation with compound probiotics and berberine (CPB) on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and fecal microflora in weaned piglets. A total of 200 piglets 35 days old were randomly allocated to 5 groups, 4 replications in each group, and 10 piglets in each replication. Group A was the basal diet; group B was supplemented with antibiotics and zinc oxide; groups C, D and E were supplemented with 0.06%, 0.12% and 0.18% CPB, respectively. The experimental period was 42 d. The results indicated that there were no significant differences in average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily gain (ADG) and feed conversion rate (FCR) among five groups ( > 0.05). However, mortality, diarrhea and rejection rates in the control group were higher than that in other groups. CPB could increase protein digestibility and serum IgG content ( < 0.05), while it could decrease serum urea nitrogen content and alkaline phosphatase activity ( < 0.05). Analysis of fecal microbiota showed that the relative abundances of and were increased, while the relative abundances of opportunistic pathogens such as and were dramatically decreased in piglets fed with CPB or antibiotics, compared with the control group. Furthermore, CPB intervention increased the relative abundances of and , while decreased the relative abundance of . Correlation analysis revealed that there was good correlation between serum indexes and fecal microbiota. It was suggested that CPB might be a promising antibiotic alternative for improving piglet health and immunity, decreasing mortality by positively altering gut microbiota.